Ranchi Court Permits Hemant Soren to Participate in Trust Vote

A special court in Ranchi on Saturday granted former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren permission to partake in the trust vote scheduled for February 5, 2024, in the state assembly.

Soren, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on January 31 in connection with a money laundering case, filed a petition before the special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court, seeking approval to participate in the trust vote initiated by the new government. The court had remanded him to ED custody for five days on Friday.

Asserting his status as an assembly member, Soren pleaded before the court for the right to attend the special session. The petition stated, “Applicant (Soren) is, therefore, filing the present Application seeking an order from this Hon’ble Court to permit the Applicant to attend the Special Session of the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly and participate in the proceedings of the Floor Test slated for February 5 at 11 AM.”

The newly formed government, led by Champai Soren, called for the floor test to demonstrate its majority in the House following the arrest of Hemant Soren. Advocate General Rajeev Ranjan Singh, representing Soren, conveyed that the ED strongly objected to the petition.

“We said now the cat is out of the bag, and the purpose of the ED is not to conduct any investigation but to thwart the formation of a new government or to destabilize the existing government. They have no business objecting to the proceedings of the assembly when he is not interfering with the investigation. Therefore, the court has accepted our petition, and our petition has been allowed,” he stated.